Kerala Transport Minister C.P. John draws flak over remarks on women using UDF’s free bus travel Priyadarshini scheme
Kerala Transport Minister C.P. John faces backlash from opposition parties for suggesting that women using the government's free bus travel scheme are pretending to be poor. The minister later clarified his comments, claiming he was highlighting the economic hardships faced by homemakers.
Why it matters
The controversy highlights the political sensitivity surrounding welfare schemes and the scrutiny of public officials' rhetoric regarding gender and economic status.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have rounded on Kerala Transport Minister C.P. John for allegedly suggesting that a significant section of women in the State were “pretending to be poor” to avail themselves of free-of-charge travel on Kerala State Road Transport Corporation’s (KSRTC) ordinary-class services under the United Democratic Front (UDF) government’s flagship Priyadarshini free travel (women empowerment) scheme .
Notably, Mr John’s controversial remarks came at the State conference of the Kerala Bus Transport Association (KBTA), a trade body of private bus owners in the State, which vehemently opposes ticketless travel for women on KSRTC buses, citing a crippling drop in ticket collection revenues, in Palakkad on Monday (August 3, 2026).
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